Calum Worthy‘s new movie, Bodied, isn’t anything like Austin & Ally – and that was the point in him taking the part.

The 27-year-old actor spoke to THR about the flick, and revealed that he was nervous taking it on, after starring in a Disney Channel show for five years.

“I was really nervous taking on this project,” Calum confessed. “I was just coming off a Disney Channel show and there’s that period of time after doing a kid’s program where you really have to be careful about what projects you take.”

He continued about his decision to do the movie anyhow: “I was worried the subject matter was controversial. The themes are controversial, and I knew I risked alienating a part of my audience, but I knew that I had to take risks in order to expand as an actor, and playing it safe wasn’t the best route, and it wasn’t necessarily trying to be edgy or break out of some mold that I thought I was in.”

“It was just about working with storytellers that I really trust and working with scripts that I thought were smart and were things I haven’t seen before,” Calum added.